The Jue Chronicles
by WampusCrandle
Summary: The Jue Chronicles is the story of a 16 year old boy named Jue, 7 years after the war supposedly ended. He is traveling the world, delivering secret scrolls to those in the White Lotus, the message - the war may not be over, and another war is on the way


THE JUE CHRONICLES: CHAPTER ONE

Seven years after the fire nation fell, the world was at peace; Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph, and their group of now legendary fighters, brought down the fire nation and stopped the war. But the world became a different and unexpected world, the fire nation people forced out the royal family, surprisingly, bringing a democracy to their land. The water tribes have grown tremendously, with a third tribe thriving. A small band of airbenders have been found, and now go around the world, finding other undiscovered airbenders. The earth kingdom has grown substantially in size, creating a massive army that spreads throughout the whole world, to some unease. But at a glance, the world is peace. . . .

. . . . . in actuality, the war had gone on . . . . .

A teenage boy, about 16, runs through a busy street riddled with food carts, people, and ostrich horse drawn taxis. He is 5'1", has brown shoulder length hair, a soul patch and small sideburns. He dodges children and stray cats as runs towards a massive building at the end of the road. The air combs through his hair as he swiftly does a cabbage cart in the middle of the road. He can't stop today; it's one of the most important days in his boss's life – his mentor's life. Today is "Election Day" in the fire nation. The boy stops at the large front doors, accompanied by Dai Li. The boy flashes a white lotus tile necklace from under his red shirt; the Dai Li open the doors. He quickly puts his hair in a topknot and enters. Inside, a beautiful and elegant room or mahogany and gold is impacted with the sent of jasmine tea. Normally, a calm and serine room is now cluttered with papers, scrolls and flyers covering the tables, chairs and floor of the main room and living room. The boy tries to walk in as little paper as he can, but realizes this isn't going to work. He sees his mentor in the jasmine garden in front of him, through the opened door way. He scans the room to see any uncovered floor – no such luck. The "U" shaped couch surrounding a large tea table has one spot in the middle, the fire place in front of the tea table has an uncovered corner, and a wooden column – he knows his past can help him. A deep breath and one last scan of the room, he is ready. He jumps from the floor, over the back of the couch, spinning to the free spot, landing on one hand. Another push, he twirls gracefully in the air. His two feet grasp the corner of the fire place and swiftly propels himself to the wooden column, then throws himself into a backwards tumble on the ground, in the middle of the open door way. The man in the jasmine garden stands and turns to face the boy.

"Very resourceful, young Jue, I knew that you would be able to get through that little test. Being as resourceful as you can be is a great asset in whatever you do. Before you know it, you will be able to things you would have never imagined!"

"Thank you master- or should I say General of State Iroh."

A small, sincere smile grows from Iroh's worn face as Jue delivers the official seal to him.

"Congratulations, General, it has been a long road, but you did it. Your people know of your heroism, how you can truly keep this world together, and how you have only the people's interests at heart. And now, they show you their thanks!"

Iroh pats Jue on the shoulder and motions him to sit with him in the garden. The garden is surrounded by a large wall, confining the cherry blossoms and large array of flowers, most prominent the jasmine flower; in the corner a small pond covered with white lotus and filled with koi fish. In the middle of the garden, Iroh and Jue sit on golden pillows, separated by a small table with a tea pot and cups on top. Iroh rubs a leaf from the table, and smells it.

"Ahhhhhh, what a day it is, thankfully I have enough jasmine tea to celebrate with! Nothing is as good until there is jasmine tea!"

Iroh throws the leaf into the tea pot, and then pours Jue and himself a cup. Jue raises his cup, "To you, State General Iroh, for all that you have done for the world and me, and what you will do for the world and me." They hit each others cups and drink down the tea in one gulp. Iroh then pulls out a small brown and red chest from under the table, he pulls out multiple scrolls, all tied with a thread and sealed with a white lotus tile. Iroh puts a sack of gold in the chest, a letter addressed to Jue, closes the chest, and then places it on the table, with another sack of gold. He leans in and motions to Jue to move in closer. He speaks in a low voice, as if he were being watched.

"I have a dangerous mission for you, Jue, and I know that you are ready for it. We have trained together, bended together, in fact, I have seen you progress faster than anyone I have ever seen. Heh heh, and your gymnastics background will surely help you. This mission is one of grave importance, and must be done with precision and gracefulness – only once you are home, read my instructions. You may question some things on the way, but you must remember the main objective-"

"Iroh, what are you talking about? I have never seen this side of you, it's a different you."

"You must listen, Jue! Everything that this world has fought for will be for nothing if this is not done! Do you trust me?!"

"I . . . I . . . – "

"Jue, do you trust me?"

The look in Iroh's eyes proved to Jue that this mission must be completed by him, and it must be important. And to speak business during tea time only spoke of how urgent the mission is. And, if nothing else, Jue knew of the kindness and warmth that Iroh gave to him, and saved him from a pending death, and that he owes everything he has to him.

"Yes, Iroh, I accept."

Some of the worry left his eyes, but not much. Iroh stands up, brushes himself off, Jue quickly does the same. They give each other a great, endearing hug. They let go and Iroh gives the chest to Jue. Iroh cautiously looks around, runs to the open door way, and closes it, and then runs through the flowers to the back wall. He places his hand on a hole in the wall, breathes in deep and presses hard against the wall. Flames shoot out from between Iroh's hand and the wall. A fiery lining of a door cuts through the wall and an opening appears to a back ally. Iroh turns to Jue.

"You must make haste, Jue. I trust you to follow my instructions carefully. You must remember this: 'Always trust the White Lotus'. Now go!"

Jue runs through the opening into the dark alleyway. He quickly turns around to say goodbye, but the wall is back, the outline no longer visible. Running out into the main road, Jue hails down an ostrich horse drawn taxi. "To 'Ivory Hill' please, and fast," Jue says. As the taxi goes forward, he wonders what his mission is or what he will have to do. He wishes to travel, as he has never left the crater, let alone the fire nation. He wondered if he would have to fight, since Iroh mentioned his bending and gymnastics. From there, he wondered if he would have to do the unthinkable.

" 'Ivory Hill, 50 copper pieces, please," says the taxi driver.

Jue responds, "Here you go, sir. Have a good day." He gives the taxi driver one gold piece and walks away, before the driver has time to give back change. Swiftly walking through a small iron gate, and up three fights of stairs, Jue reaches his apartment. He unlocks the door, slips through it, and locks it behind him. Jue takes a deep breath, closes his eyes. He opens his eyes and scans his apartment; it is quaint and respectable. It helps when Iroh pays for him to live there, so he can stay close to him. The living room is simple, a large mirror, decorated with carved wood hangs on one wall; matching couch and twin chairs, that are surround a large table; two other walls covered with paintings of himself at important political meetings with Iroh and fire nation cloths hanging. The main reason he likes his apartment is because the one wall is all glass and looks over the entire crater; a magnificent view. He walks through the square living room, to the left, to his bedroom. Nothing to outlandish, a large bed, decorated in red linens, a bathroom, and a screen door to the porch. He places the chest on the bed, closes the bedroom door, and pulls the curtains on screen door, with just a few rays of light coming through, hitting the chest. Jue sits on the bed and looks at the chest. 'Now or never' he thinks to himself. He opens the chest and removes the letter with his name on it. He begins to read.

"Dear Jue,

You are like a son to me. You remind me of my own son, strong, willing, and ready to listen and learn. I have chosen you for this specifically for those reasons; that, and I can trust you. Trust – you must learn to trust, even though you have hard times doing so since your days forced as a slave in the circus. With this mission will come hard times, and you must be willing to trust, and to trust what I tell you. So, here is what you must do: _**travel to Shu Jing and meet with sword maker and sword master Piandao.**_" Assuming you have done what I have instructed you to do, leave your home now. Go, as fast as you can. Make haste.

Grand Master"

Jue stayed still for a moment, and then a fast burst of excitement. "I'm going traveling, I'm going traveling, I'm going traveling!" Jue starts dancing around his room, moving his arms in the air, from side to side. "I'm going trav – jeez, I gotta start packing!" He runs to the closet and takes out a large, irregular shaped sack, and a backpack, and ferociously starts packing. Minutes later, Jue is finished packing. He grabbed his bags and the chest, locked and left his apartment. He exits the iron gate and hails a taxi. "Where to?" asks the taxi driver. Jue responds, "To 'Chu Peng Animal Sanctuary!' As fast as you can, I need to get my old friend!"


End file.
